Machine Head

Here's a Machine Head interview for the March 2007 issue of Mean Street Magazine.

Pitch Black

A rebirth is a way to describe what Machine Head experienced over the past few years. After originally parting ways with longtime label Roadrunner in 2003, they were faced with the reality of the band’s end. Fast forward to 2007 and following the metal press’ acclaim of their prior indie release, Through the Ashes of Empires, this Oakland-based thrash band’s latest release, The Blackening, hits with impact and signals a return to form and Roadrunner.

Machine Head, whose 1994 Roadrunner debut Burn My Eyes made a huge splash in metal circles, refocused its creativity, frontman-guitarist Robert Flynn says.

“The biggest thing for us mentality-wise was that with Through the Ashes being as big a success as it was, with all eyes on us now, we can’t play it safe,” he says. “Now is not the time to play it safe. Now we have to take the biggest risk ever taken.”

Machine Head first arose during the early ‘90s, bridging the Bay Area thrash style of Testament and Exodus with the brutal punch of Vulgar Display of Power-era Pantera, eventually becoming underground metal heroes. And though the band’s critical and commercial success waned during the late ‘90s rap-rock years, Flynn and Co. renewed their metal cred with the release of Through the Ashes. And with The Blackening, Machine Head is willing to take risks.

“There’s a very good chance that a lot of people may not get this record,” Flynn says. “A 10-and-a-half-minute song is a lot to ask of the average music listener. There were record company concerns and discussions about dividing songs in two. It doesn’t feel like 10 minutes. It’s an exciting, fun 10 minutes, where you don’t know what’s around the corner.”

“The first four songs that we wrote all ended up being over seven minutes long,” he continues. “We were like, ‘Whoa! What are we doing here? Is this crazy here? Through the Ashes was a big success. Maybe we should stick with that formula?’ We stripped [the songs] back because they were a bit much. But as soon as we stripped them back, it wasn’t fun to play any more.”

In the end, The Blackening ended up with two 10-and-a-half-minute songs (“Clenching the Fists of Dissent,” “A Farewell to Arms”) and two nine-minute songs (“Halo,” “Wolves”).

“It takes you on a journey and it’s a fun journey to be on,” Flynn says. “But it’s not a hippie space jam, like Tool’s 10,000 Days noodling on a delay pedal for five-and-a-half minutes!”

Flynn also praised fellow guitarist Phil Demmel (a bandmate from the frontman’s prior thrash outfit, Vio-Lence) for shaping Blackening’s dual-guitar metal attack.

“The chemisty of us growing up together and learning to play together was able to come to fruition,” he says.

Song themes in Blackening include the band’s reaction to “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott’s murder (“Aesthetics of Hate”) to a rebuttal to name-calling (“Slanderous”). But songs also tackle the metal scene.

“In many ways, this record was a reaction to the metal that’s been going on for the past few years,” Flynn says. “So many bands are playing metal, writing lyrics about how their girlfriend left them…With everything going on in the world today, that’s the only thing you can write about? We were pissed off and, like on Burn My Eyes, there were a lot of lyrics about society and things going on around us. It’s an American point of view because we’re American and live in the Bay Area.”

On the web: machinehead1.com